Big-time fraud found in initiative petitions

A big-time case of “apparent fraud” and bogus signatures in petitions for statewide ballot initiatives — including Tim Eyman’s I-517, which has already qualified for the ballot — was disclosed late Wednesday by the Secretary of State’s office in Olympia.

The fraud involves more than 8,000 signatures collected for two campaigns that have hired paid signature gatherers, I-517 and I-522, which deals with genetically modified foods.

Eyman: The full-time initiative pitchman loves the public limelight. But names on his I-517 petitions have turned out to be bogus. (seattlepi.com file photo)

In one case, a signature mercenary submitted 3,000 signatures for I-517, a measure which benefits the “initiative industry” by extending the time to gather signatures and outlawing “harassment” of those distributing petitions.

Out of those signatures, fewer than 5 percent were valid. The same mercenary submitted 2,371 signatures for I-522, less than 4 percent of them valid.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman, the state’s chief elections officer, was furious and called for criminal action. Signature fraud is a Class C felony punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years.

“This kind of disrespect of the voters and our cherished initiative process cannot be tolerated and I want these cases fully investigated and if, appropriate as it certainly appears, I want these people prosecuted,” said Wyman, Washington’s lone Republican statewide elected official.

Under pressure from Eyman, who has turned initiative populism into a lucrative living, the Legislature has refused to put curbs on the initiative industry. The courts have generally taken the position that to infringe on signature gathering is to violate free speech.

But, to borrow a phrase from the astronauts, Olympia — we have a problem.

“In recent years we have monitored this closely and have uncovered problems with bogus signatures being turned in — until now, fairly small in numbers,” Wyman said. “Now we have cases involving hundreds or thousands of signatures. And once they are adjudicated, we will be able to show hard evidence and documentation that we sometimes get fraud and forgery.”

Andrew Villeneuve, head of the Northwest Progressive Institute, which has spent years researching Eyman’s campaigns, argued that there are abuses in the initiative industry that go far beyond the apparent fraud by three signature gatherers for I-517 and I-522.

“The signature gathering industry in our state has been operating for years out of the public eye with next to no oversight,” said Villeneuve.

The public may not be fully aware of tactics used to get lots of signatures — Eyman has kept up the facade of citizen volunteers — but they are constantly approached by petition mercenaries at such locations as the ferry dock in Mukilteo and the Wal-Mart in Renton.

At the Mukilteo dock, for instance, signature mercenaries “piggybacked” petitions for I-517 on top of those for Initiative 1185, the measure requiring “supermajorities” in the Legislature to raise revenue or close tax loopholes. (I-1185 was passed by voters in November.)

I-1185 was topheavy with corporate support. The initiative was underwritten by major oil refiners fearful that the Legislature would levy a small oil cleanup tax, and received big money from banks and the Beer Institute. Hence, the signature drive for the tax measure (I-1185) was used to subsidize a measure to benefit the initiative industry (I-517).

Sherry Bockwinkel, a former journalist who started her own petition signature company, has filed an extensive complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission detailing initiative industry abuses. The understaffed PDC has yet to investigate or act on the complaint. The NPI, and Bockwinkel, have been critical of a firm called Citizen Solutions that Eyman employs.

“It is time for lawmakers and the Department of Labor and Industries to fully investigate this industry and ensure that firms like Citizen Solutions are brought into full compliance with our laws,” said Villeneuve.

“Tim Eyman would like us all to think that signature fraud is a problem that doesn’t exist. But as this and past incidents demonstrate, he is dead wrong. He’s against oversight and regulation of the signature gathering industry because it would negatively affect his profits.”

The Secretary of State’s office has turned the apparent bogus signatures over to the Washington State Patrol for criminal investigation.

The numbers involved, while significant, do not impact I-517 qualifying for the ballot.

A Washington State Senate committee on Thursday will hear testimony on Eyman’s initiative. Under state law, the Legislature can enact I-517 into law, refer the initiative to voters, or pass an alternative and send both measures to the ballot.